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There is a steady check in an old civilisation upon the fertility of the abler classes: the improvident and unambitious are those who chiefly keep up the breed. So the race gradually deteriorates, becoming in each successive generation less fit for a high civilisation.

— Francis Galton Hereditary Genius (1869)

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More quotes by Francis Galton

All male animals, including men, when they are in love, are apt to behave in ways that seem ludicrous to bystanders.

Anthropology teaches us to sympathise with other races, and to regard them as kinsmen rather than aliens.

Opening Remarks by the President (1886)

What nature does blindly, slowly, and ruthlessly, man may do providently, quickly, and kindly. As it lies within his power, so it becomes his duty to work in that direction.

One of the effects of civilisation is to diminish the rigour of the application of the law of natural selection. It preserves weakly lives that would have perished in barbarous lands.

One of the effects of civilization is to diminish the rigour of the application of the law of natural selection. It preserves weakly lives that would have perished in barbarous lands.

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All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
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One country, one constitution, one destiny.

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Since, in the long run, every planetary society will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring — not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive.

Carl Sagan Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Francis Galton (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.